In the field of boating it is well known that stability is an important issue. On open waterways where winds and the wakes of boats can cause the water to be choppy, boats need stability in order to give a comfortable ride and prevent the boat from capsizing. In the industry, a large number of boats made at present are single hulled models that have a width large enough to give a boat the stability it needs to navigate in the choppy conditions common to oceans and lakes. The industry also currently includes many boats which are known as multi-hulled boats and which usually consist of a platform with two independent, pontoon shaped hulls on opposite sides of this platform for support of passengers and navigating equipment. Both of these types of boats have sufficient width to sustain stability in the water under normal conditions of use, however, their respective widths make them difficult, and costly, to transport and store. The hull sizes for these watercrafts also tend to increase their costs of manufacture, hence greater costs to the consumer.
Boats having relatively narrow hulls and including features to enhance stability have heretofore been known. Typical art related to such boats is shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,964,357; 5,647,294; 5,682,831; 5,642,682; 5,515,801; 4,771,716; 4,664,049; 4,512,275; 4,562,785; 4,730,570; and 5,174,233. Boats having narrow canoe-shaped hulls are particularly unstable in choppy water; however, such boats are normally relatively easy to transport and relatively light in weight. Rigid laterally-mounted stabilizers for watercraft are known in the art, but such rigs are difficult to transport over land and to store when not in use.
In certain light-weight and relatively small watercraft, it has become common in the industry to power the watercraft employing a stream of water jetted from a movable nozzle, ie., jet ski-type watercraft, etc. Movement of the directionality of the nozzle, hence the direction of thrust of the jet stream of water, functions to propel the craft and to steer the craft. These watercraft suffer from potentially disastrous loss of steerability when the water jet is lost, either intentionally by shutting down the motor, or upon inadvertent loss of power when the craft is underway.
Accordingly it is an object of the present invention to provide a watercraft having stabilizers which are selectively extensible and retractable relative to the hull of the watercraft.
Another object of the invention is to provide a motorized stabilized watercraft having a relatively narrow elongated hull.
Another object of the invention is to provide a watercraft having selectively adjustable elongated flotation members which provide lateral (side to side) stability while at the same time providing longitudinal (fore to aft) stability.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a stabilized motor-powered watercraft which is steerable when the propulsion motor is deactivated while the craft is underway.